EVERYTHING BUT THE CHICKENS: CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY ONBOARD THE CHINATOWN BUS

摘要

Since 1998, the so-called "Chinatown buses" have grown from a niche service for Chinese immigrants to an important mode of intercity travel throughout the Northeastern United States. We argue that these buses serve as moving articulations, containers for passengers' perceptions of Chinatown. The Chinatown bus allows riders to explore their conflicted relationships to the Other, and to urban life. We present findings from focus groups with bus passengers in Mandarin and English. Participants rendered Chinatown and the Chinatown bus as an "authentic" urban experience. These participants sought to establish themselves as experts, eager to share "insider knowledge" of the Chinatown bus that outsiders would not know. For some, the Chinatown bus is a liminal space where calculations of safety and risk are inverted; danger is part of the appeal. This paper situates these responses in literatures of authenticity, cultural tourism and mobility.